All eyes remain on the United States following Tuesday’s presidential election, which remained too close too call late Wednesday even as President Donald Trump claimed a premature victory and prepared to challenge the results.

Trump, the Republican Party candidate, said in the wee hours of Wednesday morning that he had been winning before the count of mail-in and early votes began. He went on to claim fraud as those votes were counted and proved early on to be in favor of former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic Party challenger. Many more U.S. voters than usual took advantage of the mail and absentee options because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which means longer delays in determining the winner.

“They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan,” complained Trump in a Wednesday tweet that referred to specific battleground states that will be the deciding factor in the U.S. election. The U.S. electoral college system is based on wins in each of the 50 states rather than an overall popular vote, such that a candidate can in fact “win” the number of total U.S. votes cast but still lose the election.

Trump’s campaign said it will call for a recount in Wisconsin, which stood ready to fall into the Biden win column with an estimated 95 percent of the vote tallied.

So far, Biden has 70.2 million votes or 50.2 percent of the overall vote compared with 67.4 million votes for Trump, or 48.2 percent. The Associated Press also reported a 238-214 lead in Biden’s favor as the candidates seek to reach the minimum 270 electoral college threshold.

Image: Biden Harris 2020 campaign